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Mistakes as a new manager

terriblesoftware.org

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Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#21

Post by roenxi »

localghost3000 wrote: post #9

This misses the single biggest mistake every new manager makes: avoiding hard conversations with your reports. If you start managing folks you were recently in the trenches with this can be VERY hard. These are your comrades after all! You want them to like you. It’s all very natural. Sadly it is the single biggest cause for dissatisfaction I’ve seen on a given team. Being unwilling to give honest, direct feedback re…

I got the impression that when he says "couple of years" he's talking about the low-end of the word couple. The other thing in the article that jumps out is the conclusion where he says that a team that is shipping and happy is enough to be crushing it.

That isn't really enough in my experience. There are 3 questions - is the team happy? Are they shipping? Is what they are shipping valuable? - and I've seen a lot of new managers are so overwhelmed that they forget about number 3 and a fair chunk of people end up unemployed because sooner or later the bean counters figure out that the team isn't actually productive.

This article, overall, doesn't identify achieving excellent outcomes as something he got wrong at first. I suspect either he is a natural manager or it is a mistake that is still being made. Probably the latter based on the other mistakes identified. The journey I've seen usually goes from lost -> controlling external perceptions of success -> oh I need to actually succeed and it isn't what I thought.

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#22

Post by Bjartr »

eastbound wrote: post #2

List is toi short. I’d add: Posture. Everyone wants to be the benevolent manager, especially if there is enough money for everyone, and especially in these times where collaboration and positive management are touted. But you have to keep a carrot and a leash on the employees. My first employees got a 33% raise the first year things were good. Long story short: None of them are here anymore and we’re still scrambling…

How were things good if there was a mess?

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#23

Post by exitb »

brap wrote: post #20

I joined a new team as a manager and after 3 years was kindly asked to step down and become an IC. While there are many external factors to blame, I decided to do an honest postmortem with myself so I thought about these things a lot. As a line manager a huge mistake you could make (especially if you’re joining a new team) is not being technical enough. You may not write code anymore, but you are expected to know the…

> if this report were to quit today, are you able to step in and complete their project?

I’ve had many managers over the years, more and less successful, and this was possible just for one of them. And only because they were promoted to the position from a developer level on that team. They hated being a manager though and left the company promptly.

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#24

Post by hnlurker22 »

New era manager mistake. Ask ChatGPT about time estimates and pretend you know that because you are an expert, then use that to micromanage people. Mistake is a nice word. I consider that to be pure evil

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#25

Post by thanksgiving »

brap wrote: post #20

I joined a new team as a manager and after 3 years was kindly asked to step down and become an IC. While there are many external factors to blame, I decided to do an honest postmortem with myself so I thought about these things a lot. As a line manager a huge mistake you could make (especially if you’re joining a new team) is not being technical enough. You may not write code anymore, but you are expected to know the…

> You may not write code anymore, but you are expected to know the system very thoroughly, otherwise you’ll be perceived as a glorified babysitter.

I think the way "experienced" managers do this is to not actually understand the technical work 100% but rather make your manager think you understand it 100%. Even as an individual contributor, I fail to fully understand all the changes my team is making. I can't imagine being 100% fully up to date with all the changes at are in flight, have landed, etc. and why. The best you can do is some kind of abstraction.

They call this "managing up" or something like that.

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#26

Post by dowager_dan99 »

Most of these are pretty accurate, but there's good news: giving a sh!t about your people will likely get you 80% of the way to being a good manager. If you genuinely care about them, their work and progression you're already aligned with the key aspects. You can learn & figure out the rest. It might be hard and very unpleasant at times, and stressful, but building the teams that build software is the most rewarding accomplishment of my life.

I will add one too: sometimes you only find out you don't want to be a manager after trying it. Building a lead mentorship program where both management and the individual can live a realistic experience of being a people leader is invaluable. I've implemented this program twice now and it has been great for building leadership capacity with people who are excited to take this path.

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#27

Post by dowager_dan99 »

brap wrote: post #20

I joined a new team as a manager and after 3 years was kindly asked to step down and become an IC. While there are many external factors to blame, I decided to do an honest postmortem with myself so I thought about these things a lot. As a line manager a huge mistake you could make (especially if you’re joining a new team) is not being technical enough. You may not write code anymore, but you are expected to know the…

I've entered 2 new orgs as an engineering manager, after getting some experience organically. You need to prioritize between lots of things, including technical / people. Usually people is the right choice I've concluded, but the first time my teams were using all new tech for me and I really struggled after over focusing on relationships. The second time I still focused more on people but new the tech better, and forced myself to find time to go through more typical developer onboarding. It was way more successful.

Some of the things you mention sound right for a team lead (i.e. single team) but not really for an EM where you might have 2+ teams. You need to be able to solve the problems the leaving teammates create for you, but stepping into the role is probably the last thing you should do. Don't get me wrong, you need to live the life to build credibility and empathy, but doing the job yourself is usually a substandard, unsustainable solution.

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#28

Post by dowager_dan99 »

exitb wrote: post #23
brap wrote: post #20

I joined a new team as a manager and after 3 years was kindly asked to step down and become an IC. While there are many external factors to blame, I decided to do an honest postmortem with myself so I thought about these things a lot. As a line manager a huge mistake you could make (especially if you’re joining a new team) is not being technical enough. You may not write code anymore, but you are expected to know the…

> if this report were to quit today, are you able to step in and complete their project? I’ve had many managers over the years, more and less successful, and this was possible just for one of them. And only because they were promoted to the position from a developer level on that team. They hated being a manager though and left the company promptly.

Turning this person into a manager is a major fail. Typically their only move is to quit, and everyone loses.

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#29

Post by dowager_dan99 »

ryoshu wrote: post #18

Delegation -> This is 1000% the hardest thing to do. You need to let go and trust your people. Where’s my dopamine? -> Your success is the teams' success. When they are doing well, you are doing well. Quality over quantity -> Yes. The level of engagement -> Your job is to support the team - blockers are your problem, not their problem. Fight to remove blockers. That's your job. Managing perception -> Which leads into…

Where’s my dopamine? -> Your success is the teams' success. When they are doing well, you are doing well.

It's hard to get a dopamine hit of a second-order signal though. When you're a developer there's a strong linkage between the work you complete and results. If you write code for a new feature, you get to see it take shape on your screen. When your team reaches a milestone, you see where you contributed and can often quantify your contributions.What happens after you move into management? Your day-to-day is no longer filled with relatively concrete tasks and goals. Your role is not to do the work yourself but guide and support a team doing the actual execution. How do you measure that?

Re: Mistakes as a new manager

#30

Post by dowager_dan99 »

chasd00 wrote: post #7
TripleChecker wrote: post #5

Delegation was one I struggled with a lot in the early days. Even as the CEO, I was reluctant to give up my customer service responsibilities of manning the inboxes. Eventually, I understand that even if someone handled it only 80-90% as well, that would be much better for the company than having me do it.

Delegation is so hard, i struggle constantly and I'm technically a "Sr. Manager". When the project is up against deadline pressure, it's so tempting to do something yourself that only takes you a day vs delegating to someone else and they spin on it for 3 and screw it up at the end anyway. Inevitably you become the bottleneck when a wave of escalations or other management tasks come down the pipe but there's a pile o…

I moved up to Director this year, and explicitly called out that if I needed to give up any more direct interaction with ICs and "contact time" with the real builders I had probably topped out. I've mitigated this a lot with an awesome team of leads and managers, and a (hopefully good kind of) lazy, non-prescriptive management style.
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